Spiral Staircase Theater build thread (with progress pics)

Well this maybe one of the more extensive builds here but it certainly will not match some of the gorgeous work done by the likes of Utah997 and Sandman.. Here is my story:

I built a theater and documented it in a build thread about 3 years ago and I loved it. It was everything I wanted. Well as soon as I was done, we decided to sell our house. I know this tends to happen to a lot of us. Oh well. When we sold our other house we made some money on the theater, which helped us decide to build another one. We had been looking for over 3 years to find the right house and within a week our old house was sold. We were ecstatic. Well my wife was certainly not looking forward to the move, but it went well. As soon as we moved into our new house, I started scheming ways to make a theater room. We have a large oversized room upstairs, but it was so close to the bedrooms, I knew it would be difficult to isolate it properly. I was also thinkin it would be nice to have an office since this 5 bedroom home did not have an office.


So I talked with my architect and we hashed and rehashed until an agreeable plan surfaced. One of the main issues was the fact that the house is a story and a half and the right side of the home does not have upstairs access. I contemplated putting an elevator in but codes require a staircase no matter what as a backup. I decided on a welded steel and wood spiral staircase as a way to save floor space on both floors. The second floor would have 12 foot ceilings on one end and an 8 foot on the other because of the roof line requirements. The office would have 9 foot ceilings similar to the rest of the main floor. Things really started to look good. Then I got to work in sketchup and came up with a rendering that was as close as I could get. It was a great jumping off point.


Things proceeded and I picked a builder that I trust and the demolition began. Our yard got the worst of it, but sometimes you have to go backwards before you go forwards. Right?


Here are the forms in the ground and the concrete pump truck.

Here is the crawl space formed out and you will notice the access for wiring and HVAC. I am starting to get excited.



Here is real progress. The deck is on the floor.


Now here comes the walls...


14 foot from the top floor to the eave.

Ahh yes.
I will have a 48"x54" awning style window that will allow items up into the equipment room once the staircase is in place. Hopefully I will not have to use this for a while as I hope to put the staircase in as one of the last things.

The roof is on..


Who are these guys? They seem to be a little young to be working construction.


Second floor...

New Pics!


Corner - There is a 55 gallon trash can in the foreground that gives an idea of scale.


Left Corner


Spiral Staircase opening:


Theater back from staircase:


Theater side form staircase. Notice the rise of the roof.


Looking at the 12 foot tall screen wall.


Bathroom main floor.

Thanks. I have not completed my equipment list yet, but I will be using Axiom's flagship 7.1 system. I currently have a Bag End Infrasub that will handle the sub bass. I am hoping that LED projectors and 3d projectors will be more affordable by the time I finish the space.

I currently in the process of working on getting the supplies for the HVAC system. Does anyone here have any experience in HVAC? I will have 2 supplies into the office and one return. Upstairs, I will have 2 supplies. I can tap into the main square duct in the crawl space, but I have never done this before. I am planning on using flex duct for the runs except for the second floor, which it sounds like I will need a true duct between the 2x6 walls. Has anyone done this before and knows what I need? Any help is appreciated.

More pics. Don't you just love pics day?







So I came and measured the sliding door for the spiral staircase and I am 1 " too short. Uh. That is less than optimal....So i called my builder and he told me there is a way to take the door apart. I sure hope so!! Siding coming soon!!

The outside is sided!


I installed the high and low voltage wiring this week. I had to take a week off of work to do it, but it was worth it. It is starting to look good. This is the office.The 2 sided fireplace is covered with a board right now, but it is nearing completion as well.



The screen wall.




This is a closeup of the soffit and projector hush box.

Ah the office...I have the office wired for another zone of audio. I can also run it with the main system to let them hear the movie too if they want. I am planning on having a good place for a desk with HDMI, cat6, and VGA running from the theater equipment room. I ran about 60 feet of conduit so I can always add cables in the future.I also have a recessed outlet over the fireplace and HDMI/cat6/rg6. I am probably going to do raised panel wainscoting in the office with a dark gray above the wainscoting. The fireplace has a radio frequency remote that has a thermostat so it can be ran from the fireplace or remotely. I will be able to control all of the lighting, fireplace, and audio from my theater chair.
I have a huge window in the equipment room that can be an entry point for bulky items after the staircase is in place. I received the staircase last night and it looks beautiful. Goddard Manufacturing built it and Jerry Goddard himself delivered it. He came up to ride his Harley in Yellowstone. He seems like a really nice guy and the product looks exceptional.
I am looking for projector suggestions. I already have my audio system for the most part, but I will be buying chairs soon as well. Any good deals lately from Roman or Serge? I will have 4 chairs on each level I think. I could fit five, but I do not want to cram them in there. Any suggestions?

The neighbor is protesting I think by putting up the ugliest fence I have ever seen. Seriously..

Heh. No kidding. There is definitely a code but I have not brought it to the attention of the city engineer yet.

Embarassing? Probably not too much since he told me yesterday to never talk to him again. I have never seen someone so sad. The guy is mean to everyone in the neighborhood. He just has his yard to look forward to. I just hope he becomes a better neighbor. Oh well. Life is too short to worry about someone like that.

Thanks for the replies so far. I know the guy is just unhappy with his life and he is projecting that on to others around him. He calls the cops if someone steps on his lawn.
So I ordered a Lutron Spacer system for my lighting control. It was a bit cheaper than a Grafik Eye and it basically does everything I would need a Grafik Eye to do. I am excited to get it and try it out. I will be putting in 3 zones right now. I have sconces, cans, star lighting, and rope lighting. This is going to be fun!!

Blow-in insulation done. I have been gone for work the last couple of weeks. I did get the riser stuffed and closed up. I got the columns started and I will get a picture up of that shortly. In the meantime, here is the insulation which will really be nice for a lot of reasons. Mainly the fact it is a lot more efficient than the pink stuff.

Ok new pics. Drywall is on but not mudded and taped yet. That is going on as I type. Here is the view from the glass doors. Above the fireplace is prewired for 5.1 and HDMI/vga to the theater equipment rack. I am looking at a new Samsung LED TV for that location most likely.


The firplace is two sided and this what i ended up with on the other side with mosaic Emperador Marble.



The view looking out the office.


Now the view of the where the secret bookcase door will go. I am excited for this.


And now the theater...

You can't see it well in this picture but I picked up a Liebert MCR. It is a 43u enclosed rack with it's own air conditioner in it. It is incredible. I am excited to put my equipment in it to try it out. It was an absolute beast to get up in the second floor. I promise this thing will be staying in the house if I ever decide to sell.



Back wall and I did remember to prewire for 11.2...

I must have a very boring build. Not a single comment since yesterday. I figured the Liebert MCR would get some IT guys interested. Oh well.